[ceenda]

Hi there.

People were talking about atmospherics in one of the recent posts on scale which I printed off.

However, I'm still not entirely sure about what people like spooge and Fred meant about colours going into neutral. This is possibly a question needing a good art book to answer and so any recommendations are welcome.

As things go into the distance, do they just get closer to the colour of the sky?

[Danny]

Ceenda,

*puts on Spooge mask*

I think it was pointed out in the other thread that atmospheric effects originate from the scattering of Light. Being that the shorter wavelenghts of the spectrum (blue light) are more easily affected by molecules (rather than dust!!) of nitrogen, oxygen, etc. that for a large part make up the atmosphere. It has something to do with the electromagnetic field of the lightrays, I can't remember the specifics.. Aaaanyway.. as the blue light is scattered/diffused by a larger degree than the other colours further up the spectrum, the sky takes on that lovely blue shade we're all familiar with. Therefor the further away an object is from the viewer, the more the lightrays bouncing off the object towards the viewer get scattered and the object appears to have taken on a shade of the atmosphere. Now the other effect which is part of the formula can be called 'fading'. Here dust does come into play and is mainly responsible.
Now basically these two factors (I'm sure there are some other factors in play aswell) are responsible for that neutralizing of colour and value spoken of. It removes contrast and gives off a tint of atmosphere. Colour becomes less saturated, values seem to be 'squeezed' more towards a centerpoint. Look at shots of mountain ranges for instance to see what happends. So it's more than just colouring your objects blue..

*takes Spooge mask off*

Hope this was of creative help rather than merely scientific,

Danny

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Trust in Trance

[This message has been edited by Danny (edited August 26, 2000).]

[ceenda]

Thanks Danny!

I'll do some paintings of Arthur's Seat(Edinburgh) on a foggy day & try to put that info into practice.

[balistic]

Here's a render I did a while back that shows atmospheric perspective. Notice how the most distant ridges have much less contrast than the foreground and are tinted towards the sky color. The actual model for those mountains is only about 30 feet (10 metres) high, but by using atmospheric perspective, I'm able to make them look a lot bigger and more distant.



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Brian "balistic" Prince
3D Artist
Eggington Productions